Feature: Bathurst hot laps with V8 legends

Mount Panorama's status as a public road for 50 weeks of the year makes it somewhat mythical as there are few opportunities to sample the course other than a 60km/h tour around the fiercely policed precinct.

So the opportunity to ride alongside two Bathurst 1000 winners in a new V8-powered Holden is not to be missed. It's hard to top the thrill of a first-hand look at what elite drivers go through at Bathurst, and harder still to have an opportunity to ride alongside V8 Supercar champions – plus a wildcard legend of Australian motorsport.

My first taste of the track is with Holden Racing Team pilot Garth Tander. The three-time Bathurst 1000 winner is one of the first drivers to turn up for a ride-along session on qualifying day at Bathurst. Offered the latest VFII Holden Commodore SS-V Redline in a choice of a six-speed manual or automatic transmissions, the ever-calculating Tander picks the car with a clutch pedal and invites us on board.

Neal Bates is a legend of Australian motorsport. Photo: Supplied

The new sedan's 304kW output is well shy of the 450kW produced by the HRT Commodore that took him to the podium, but it still accelerates with vigour away from the starting line.

My body slams against its seatbelt as we brake sharply into Hell Corner, the first bend of the 6.2-kilometre circuit. Tander plucks second gear before expertly measuring out his throttle inputs.

"It's important to get on the gas early here for the run up mountain straight," he says.

"You use fifth gear up the top of the hill and brake really late for turn two, which is in second gear now with the taller diff ratio."

David McCowen was thrilled to ride in the Lexus LFA at Bathurst. Photo: Supplied

The racer is referring to a technical change for the 2015 race. The sport allowed teams to use a taller final drive in hope that cars would regularly crack 300km/h, rather than falling just short of the triple tonne. The move hasn't had a dramatic effect on top speeds or lap times, as the pursuit of ultimate speed comes at a cost to acceleration, compromising the drivers' efforts.

Tander is cautious, keeping a broad margin for error on his guided tour of the circuit. It's a welcome surprise from the passenger seat – I expected fire and brimstone, but the racer exhibits restraint rather than showboating for an audience.

Craig Lowndes takes a different approach.

Choosing an automatic variant of the same Commodore fitted with F1-style shift paddles, the racer disables stability control in greasy conditions and revels in a slippery dance between car and driver.

"We're going up Mountain Straight, you normally pull fifth gear just over the crest here and at about the 140 metre mark you go back to second, and then you climb out," Lowndes says in his bright and familiar tone.

The Red Bull Racing Australia driver was the man to beat at Bathurst. Accelerating through Griffin's Bend at turn two, he pushes closer to the wall than Tander dares on the run to The Cutting.

Bathurst lap with Craig Lowndes Photo: Supplied

Giving the car a solid stab of throttle on the exit of The Cutting, tyres squeal and the 6.2-litre V8 bellows as Lowndes holds the car in a deft powerslide out of the steepest corner on the track.

I hold my breath as the wall looms, then chuckle as he gathers up the slide with little effort, exhibiting the well-judged economy of movement athletes of all kinds are famous for.

There's no slip from Tander, who chooses grace over flamboyance, exiting the corner calmly and cleanly at a pace that would have most motorists in a cold sweat. There are squeals from the back seat as he plucks third gear and finds purchase on the shimmering tarmac.

Bathurst lap with Garth Tander Photo: Supplied

"You short-shift to third over the hump and go around 'The Tree' that's not a tree anymore," Tander says as we approach Reid, then Sulman, Park.

"In third gear still, going really fast, let the car flow out to the wall, then grab fourth gear for The Grate."

Most of Mount Panorama has formal names – Conrod Straight, Forrest's Elbow, Murray's Corner and so on – but 'The Grate' is a colloquial reference for a metal grid over a drainage point in a treacherous left-hand bend on the run to McPhillamy Park. A committed driver will run right out to the circuit's walls, taking aim at the grate on every tour of the track.

Lowndes is certainly one of them, demonstrating perfect placement in a vivid if slightly intimidating demonstration of excellent driving form. I was lucky enough to drive around Mount Panorama for hot laps of my own last year under the tutelage of Bathurst regular Luke Youlden. We didn't go anywhere near as close to the walls as Lowndes, who demonstrates his ability in much trickier conditions.

"We grab fourth gear, down in what we call the grate," he says.

"Then it's just a lift, out to the wall then over McPhillamy, then into Skyline - over the hill, and down the hill."

Lowndes has little time to give detailed insight into the circuit, letting his driving do the talking instead. Tander, though, gives a vivid description of the sweeping left-hand bends at 'The Grate' and McPhillamy Park.

"You let the car flow right out here and get on the gas, doing around 210km/h an hour before you're up on two wheels through McPhillamy, driving out to the exit curb and Skyline, where you can't see where you're going," he says.

"You're doing about 230km/h here, then back to second, over the curb and get it in nice and tight, down into The Dipper where the cars goes on to wheels."

Sharing a V8 Holden with drivers of his calibre during the Bathurst 1000 week is a pinch-yourself moment. It's just after 7am on Saturday, and there are already small crowds along the fenceline watching the spectacle.

Lowndes reminds us that he's one of two drivers to have piloted a contemporary Formula 1 car around Bathurst as we reach The Dipper, telling us that he – and 2009 world champion Jenson Button – had to run well wide of a steep descent at the bend's apex in order to keep the car in one piece.

I can't imagine what it must have been like to shave 20 seconds from a flat-out V8 Supercars lap around the track. Our ride is thrilling, though I know it's a good forty seconds off proper V8 race pace.

Pointing out fresh scars in the snaking concrete walls between The Dipper and Forrest's Elbow, Lowndes shows us "where Chaz (Mostert) ran wide", breaking his wrist and femur. The information comes as he slides laterally across the track, no doubt aware of the risk of failure during the mountain's descent.

Tander doesn't directly mention Mostert, instead saying "you have to be careful of this here, it can come out and bite you".

"We go back to second gear for The Elbow," Tander says.

"You get in nice and tight and once the apex is gone you're hard on the gas. We're really breaking the speed limit now.

"Down Conrod, the only place you can have a rest, you relax your hands and let go of the steering wheel a little bit. Top speed at the end is just under 300 km/h."

Lowndes is much closer to the mark, cresting the hump on Conrod Straight at speed before accelerating further into the right-hand kink at The Chase. It's a little bit of a worry considering the potential for disaster. But I trust that he has control.

"Normally we brake at the 150 metre mark", Lowndes says as he uses potent Brembo brakes to slow the Commodore in time for the left-right flick at the end of Conrod Straight. The racer uses the high curb at the first apex to bounce the car into line for the second element, yawing across the circuit with a well-judged dollop of power.

Yep. Control.

We zoom under a pedestrian bridge outside the Rydges Hotel, past pit entry and toward the final left-hand-bend at Murray's Corner.

Tander offers advice to would-be racers, saying "don't stuff it up now if you've done a good lap", as we negotiate the surprisingly tricky turn and pull onto Pit Straight.

It's there that our laps come to an end.

But a special opportunity rises through Lexus, official safety car providers to the V8 Supercars circus. The luxury brand has brought along its own supercar, a V10-powered Lexus LFA driven by multiple Australian rally champion Neal Bates.

The gravel legend's forays into tarmac racing include class wins in the Bathurst 12 Hour and a top 10 Bathurst 1000 finish that started from pole position. He's as versatile as I am overwhelmed.

There's little time to take in the exotic surroundings of a carbon-fibre machine that cost more than an equivalent Ferrari or Lamborghini before it sold out.

The 412kW, 325km/h exotic is significantly faster than the V8 Commodore, with a visceral scream that sounds straight out of a mid-2000s grand prix.

Bates backs his talent over the car's (disabled) electronic safety net, measuring out throttle and steering inputs in a dance across the mountain that puts paid to any last hope I ever held of becoming a racing driver.

If you've ever watched top-level motorsport on TV and thought it looks easy, that's because the sheer ability of professional racers makes it seem that way. But just as you would expect a gulf to separate hobby tennis players from Roger Federer, there's a huge gap between the average driver – even committed enthusiasts – and a world-class pilot such as Tander, Lowndes or Bates.

His skill is immeasurable as the Lexus soars toward 9000rpm, its shattering wail sure to wake campers on and around the mountain.

It feels like a video game, which is appropriate enough given the Xbox and Forza 6 signage written around the track.

The blue sliver of speed reels in Conrod Straight with a ferocity the Redline Holden couldn't hope to match. Bates barks back through its six sequential paddle-shift gears before throwing the car into a lurid powerslide across the final element of The Chase.

It's stirring stuff.

While I haven't had a ride in a V8 Supercar, these fleeting separate tastes of Holden V8 and Lexus supercar serve as a reminder of Mount Panorama's awe-inspiring status, and of the other-worldly skills held by professional racing drivers. It doesn't get better than Bathurst.